Wake-up call for Haiti

Just in time for the third anniversary of Haiti’s earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010, Canada’s principal foreign aid minister, Julian Fantino, delivered a wake-up call to that country’s government by declaring that he was placing future foreign aid to Haiti “on ice” because he was not satisfied with its progress toward recovery. Given that Haiti would collapse without foreign assistance, his comments got the immediate attention of the government and Haiti’s international partners. Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe pointed out that the magnitude of the disaster was so great — 42 public buildings destroyed, more than 300,000 killed, and total damages of about $12.5 billion — that recovery was bound to be a slow and painful process.